alice
Member
- Messages
- 247
- Location
- 1 foot in Texas, 1 foot in Suffolk
I agree that taste is a matter of the period and society you're born. The Victorians thought the Georgian style was cold and dated and in the 1890's is was perfectly acceptable to rip out (what we NOW would consider) lovely Georgian details and replace them with florid Victorian glop. And in the '30's the lovers of Art Deco tore out the horrid Vic. glop to replace it with modern, cool mirrors and tile.
At the present, the fashion is to appreciate everything built prior to the day I was born, January 27th, 1958.
I think what we forget is that during each era, dodgy, shoddy work was done as well as excellent work. The dodgy stuff was replaced as soon as possible and now, we don't see it. The good stuff, the work done by good craftsmen and which was treated well and conserved by generations of homeowners is what we see today, and that's why it's so painful to see it ruined when someone comes along that neither appreciates the design, craftsmanship and history of a particular chimney piece or length of crown molding.
When we look at 80's artex today, we see the good, the bad, and the butt ugly. Most of it is done by amateurs (my house, for instance) and isn't worth saving, even as a historical example. One day, like 70's ranch houses and Bauhaus worker's flats, someone will come by and ask why all that lovely artex is not appreciated, and rail against the Philistines who rip it out. It will be because the hundreds of examples of botched and shoddy jobs will have long been replastered and redone and all that will be left is the good and grand examples.
Of course, I can still make an arguement that it's going to be hard to find some great examples of artex inspired 80's decoration, but that's me showing how locked in I am to my particular taste era.
alice
At the present, the fashion is to appreciate everything built prior to the day I was born, January 27th, 1958.
I think what we forget is that during each era, dodgy, shoddy work was done as well as excellent work. The dodgy stuff was replaced as soon as possible and now, we don't see it. The good stuff, the work done by good craftsmen and which was treated well and conserved by generations of homeowners is what we see today, and that's why it's so painful to see it ruined when someone comes along that neither appreciates the design, craftsmanship and history of a particular chimney piece or length of crown molding.
When we look at 80's artex today, we see the good, the bad, and the butt ugly. Most of it is done by amateurs (my house, for instance) and isn't worth saving, even as a historical example. One day, like 70's ranch houses and Bauhaus worker's flats, someone will come by and ask why all that lovely artex is not appreciated, and rail against the Philistines who rip it out. It will be because the hundreds of examples of botched and shoddy jobs will have long been replastered and redone and all that will be left is the good and grand examples.
Of course, I can still make an arguement that it's going to be hard to find some great examples of artex inspired 80's decoration, but that's me showing how locked in I am to my particular taste era.
alice
